Share this:

Product Description

SOS MarineRecovery Ladder was nominated for a DAME award at the 2015 METSTRADE show in Amsterdam. It is made from dayglow (neon yellow) polyester mesh offering two means of exit from the water. Able crew can climb the integral ladder rungs. Parbuckle lift aboard your injured, disabled, or hypothermic crew using your halyard, davit, or block & tackle. Can you recognize signs of hypothermia? Click to the World SailingOSRAppendix J.

Your browser does not support this content.

How to Use

When you first acquire yours, set it up for future deployment on your boat–before you have a crew overboard. Take your time, in advance of need, to determine how rigging on your boat can best be handled. You might rig the ladder to a length of line fastened between stanchion bases, or rig through hawse pipes, or over the gunwale, to a cleat, or to padeyes or other strong points. Once you decide how best to secure the recovery ladder for use, why not leave that rigging fastened to the ladder. When the time comes to recover your overboard crew, that line will be already tied to your recovery ladder, the lengths will be properly adjusted, all waiting in the ladder’s integral stuff sack, ready to use.

Safe Working Load

The SWL of the Recovery Ladder is 463 lbs (210 kg) used either as ladder or parbuckle sling

Stepwise to Safety

Consider the steps enumerated above:

1. Just Throw Your MOB a Dan Buoy

When your crew goes overboard, the best first step to take is to throw that person a dan buoy. That marks the MOB’s position, helping you find him night or day, provides immediate additional flotation, until light and audible (whistle) signals direct vessel alongside for recovery.

2. Deploy the Reelsling

The Reelsling float is specifically designed to help you draw a man overboard back to the boat. The principle is that it connects you to the overboard crew with a line and a float. As retrieving vessel circles around MOB, dragging fully extended line and float behind the boat, the line will draw within reach of the MOB. This device also provides opportunity to lift the MOB from the water. Easier for all is that, if the MOB is not injured, not hypothermic, and able–bodied, that person can come back aboard by climbing up the Recovery Ladder, which is quicker than lifting with any sling or parbuckle.

Using a dan buoy in conjunction with the Reelsling makes turning a circle around your MOB as easy as possible. The dan buoy gives you a clear reference point, even at night. Your MOB’s bobbing head is a surprisingly hard–to–see target, especially at night, easy to lose between waves, or when washed over by a wave. The self–inflating dan buoy remains easy to see all the time.
If you sail in temperate (or colder) water, circum–rescue collapse

The lower body is compressed by the hydrostatic effect of the water—the so-called G suit effect—and blood is diverted upwards into the chest cavity. Blood volume becomes progressively depleted by a physiological reflex causing excessive urination and pulse rate slows as hypothermia develops. Vertical lifting causes immediate loss of the G suit effect. The already reduced blood volume instantly pools in the lower body and the heart rate cannot increase to compensate for this sudden loss of central blood volume. As a result, circulatory shock and sudden death can occur. This is called circum–rescue collapse and is a recognized major hazard of vertical lifting when recovering someone who is hypothermic. For further reading on this, and other medical matters related to marine rescue, consult the rescuer’s bible,Essentials of Sea Survival by Golden and Tipton. This text should be in every sea rescue organization's library. –Bob Wright, MD, Director, Intensive Care Services, St. Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney, AUS

is a life–threatening possibility of hypothermic crew rescue. Minimize its likelihood by using the safest recovery method, which is horizontal recovery.
The tall dan buoy remains stationary and visible, with self–lighting strobe, marking your less–visible man overboard. At night, the light reflective tracer woven in to the Reelsling retrieval line makes it easier to see and avoid fouling in your propeller. Furthermore, generous use of SOLAS light reflective tape on the Reelsling float’s perimeter makes the float easier to see.

3. Hoist Aboard

Although it is most convenient for the overboard crew to climb up the Recovery Ladder, sometimes that is not possible or not recommended; read on about horizontal recovery.

The Recovery Ladder Can Also Retrieve Disabled Crew

The dual–purpose design of the Recovery Ladder enables rescue of a disabled, injured, or hypothermic crew, who either cannot or should not try to pull himself from the water using the ladder rungs.

To make this recovery, fasten a halyard or block and tackle to the bottom–most point of the Recovery Ladder. The MOB floats into the pocket formed by the Recovery Ladder, or onboard crew may pull him into the pocket with the Reelsling retrieval line. Crew on board then raises the halyard to recover the MOB. The recovery ladder gives 2 to 1 mechanical advantage to the hoist by virtue of the ancient principle of parbuckle lifting.

You May Need a Block and Tackle

Ahead of need, consider whether you will need a multipart purchase for mechanical advantage in hoisting your crew aboard. In use on sailboat or powerboat, fasten a halyard or block and tackle to the webbing loop at ladder’s bottom. On a sailboat, hoist your crew aboard with windlass or halyard winch. On a powerboat, you may need a block and tackle at the ready.

It’s Not Hard

The ladder is not rigid but soft, made of fabric and webbing. On any boat with swimstep, sail or power, using the Recovery Ladder sidesteps injury caused by the swimstep smashing down on, or rapidly ascend into, struggling overboard crew. A standard rigid boarding ladder can also gravely injure crew when the boat rolls or pitches during recovery. The soft construction of the SOS MarineRecovery Ladder makes recovery safer.

How to Stow

Use Its Integral Storage Pouch

The Recovery Ladder has a built–in mesh storage pouch with zipper. You won't lose the pouch because it’s sewn onto the ladder!